Recovery?

Well after my major pike of the Portomarin to Palas leg I decided to try the Palas to Melide leg with the boys (14 klms). Obviously I was not much recovered as I did actually make it but Pete had to cajole me the last few klms. I was pretty busted when I arrived. Again!! :-( . Melide is a small town that seems to specialise in Octopus if the amount of Pulperias is to be used as a guide.

The Spanish Senora who ran the Pensione where we stayed in a nice new room (although smallish it was well appointed and everything was new) was anxious to ensure everything was to our liking and again this morning at breakfast tried to encourage us to eat way to much jamon, cheese, churros etc. The bread for breakfast was fantastic.

 However I get ahead of myself - after a rest for a few hours I awoke fairly ravenous and I went and had some calamari and chips for afternoon tea before we ventured off a few hours later to the dinner venue (which was a Pulperia). None of us however (even. the Pulpo king) actually had pulpo for dinner. I had tortilla for entrée and then chorizo for mains followed by canned pineapple and peach for dessert. Wasn't really hungry after my late afternoon tea.

Went to bed about 9 and thankfully slept right through to 6.45 (which I am sure Pete was most grateful for after the coughing and spluttering of the previous nights).

This morning after the aforementioned breakfast we headed off for the walk to Arzua with the threat of rain which fortunately did not eventuate until after we were well ensconced at our destination and I MADE IT. I was weary but not stuffed so maybe I have turned the corner. (15.5 klms). Tonight's residence is very upmarket (will add pictures soon) and we have just finished dinner - missed lunch so was pretty hungry. Had a Cheese croquette with Blackberry Jam for appetizer followed by Garlic Shrimp, Veal Shank and Crepes for dessert. (yummy).

So the boys have walked over 80 klms so far and me about 70 - 18 klms scheduled for tomorrow so that will well and truly test my recovery.

Hope all in Oz are safe and well.

30 September - Melide to Arzua

Eric: Nice leisurely stroll to Arzua today. The green hills were a far cry from Madrid a week ago.

 

 

 

Free range bovine

It's grrrrape!

We were all in fine form and got there by lunchtime-ish. As usual John navigated us to tonight's accommodation; a nice picturesque homestead at the edge of town.

Voyeuristic chairs in the bedroom

View of the hillls

We decided to forego the usual siesta and instead took the opportunity to enjoy some beers outside before the rain came.

View of the hills plus beer

John: Well today was a much nicer day. I promised the guys thunder and lightning and of course we have had none of the above. A small shower disturbed our quiet beer on the patio at Pazo Santa Maria but other than that all has been fine. We had an interesting breakfast this morning … being urged to eat up by our Spanish land-lady but we failed to respond … all a bit tired … and jamon for breakfast even as great as this was … proscuitto … not processed like we’ve been getting … is wearing a bit thin … I’m down to a penitent bread and orange juice … plus the obligatory café con leche. Walk was short and pleasant and dry.

We’re bunking at the Pazo Santa Maria. Which seems to be an up-market place. We had to walk an extra 1,485 metros to get here … there were a few “observationes” but that ceased when we finally arrived. Best described as a place for weekend dalliances … a sort of Tuscan style villa in Spain … Pete and Col have the honey moon suite complete with curtained four poster and spa !

There are a few Spanish flies about … I thought dung beetles had fixed that particular problem … anyway they may be small but they’re vigorous and persistent.  And there are no tea/coffee making facilities in the rooms … very un-Australian … possibly they expect you to amble out for a decent coffee rather than settling for instant in your room … what is the world coming too  !

We had possibly a few too many beers on the patio … when we came inside … discussion … thank you Eric and Col … turned to one hit wonders … as it always does … and there is apparently a classical list … most of which I know and love … sad to say the I also knew the pop ones as well … at least up until the late 70s … possibly not something to broadcast in the blog … well the beer is still flowing !   

29 September - Palas de Rei to Melide

Eric: Only 14km's to walk today which will get us to Melide. The streets were wet with overnight rain but John didn't say anything today to jinx the weather so we enjoyed cool overcast conditions for most of the walk.

Peter and John powering ahead

 

Other than the occasional 'ola' or 'buen camino' to fellow walkers there was little human interaction. It's interesting how the mind wanders when you're just walking for hours on end. Ideas and thoughts play through the mind while wandering past the old villages, creeks, steak factories, smurfs and marshmallow fields. No epiphanies yet.
 

milk bar / steak factory

marshmallow field 

wild caterpie

Bridge into Melide

Melide was pretty busy when we got there, presumably the post church lunch crowd in their sunday best. Checked in, left Collie to nap and we went searching for lunch. There were a few pulperias along the main road and we headed for the one recommended by the lady at reception.

View from the bridge

And wouldn't you know it, the place was full and there was a line outside! Despite the promise of good pulpo (judging from the guy at the shop window chopping up tentacles) we were too hungry to wait and ended up in a quieter place where we partook in stuffed peppers, garlic prawns and albariño wine.

Stuffed Peppers with Potatoes

 Garlic Prawns
 

 Grilled peppers

 

John: Well the skies were clearer and it only rained a bit … mostly as we came into Melide … and we only had 15kms to do. We passed through several small woods which would have been very romantic in warmer weather but seemed fairly dank and dismal because of the rain. Mostly flatter country, still seems to be a fair bit of dairying, but we spent most of the day away from the farm yard rather than in it as we had been doing earlier. Hotel is interesting, seems to be an old warehouse of some kind judging from its location in an alley and the roller door at the front, and obviously they’ve put in three floors where there may have been two because the windows in our rooms are at floor level. Col and Pete have a view of somebody’s back yard, complete with chickens, but it is very comfortable. Our first encounter with hotel staff unable to speak English … we were trying to ascertain if they were going to be able to offer us dinner and it wasn’t going well until Pete uttered the magic words “Tee Travel” that they understood whereupon we were escorted back to the Pulporium we’d tried to go to earlier and fed. A bit of boning up on the old phrase book and we were ready to ask when and where breakfast was and when the bags would be collected … all went well but the locals had worked out that we “no entiendo espanol” and had resorted to writing down 9 for “las neuve” or nine o’clock … etc ... we just won’t tell the Spanish teacher.

28 September - Portomarin to Palais del Reis (24 klms)

Col: Was down for breakfast at 7Am but wasn't feeling to flash so just had a bread roll. Then it was time to hit the trail again and I was still feeling the pinch from the day before. The inevitable climb out of Portomarin was a particularly long and relatively steep. Then it was a pretty boring trudge along the side of the highway past some particularly pungent chicken and cow farms. After about 10 klms we arrived at a little café and at that point I became the first one to pike. With prospect of a further 16klms, pretty crook and feeling pretty fatigued from the day before and the aforementioned climb I decided to catch a taxi to Palais. The other three adventurers hung in there and completed the journey - although Pete seemed pretty shagged when he got in.

The hotel was excellent and the service was great. Had dinner next door at A Forxa and it was pretty average although the salmon was nice. Then it was off to bed early to try and recover for tomorrow's stage to Melide.

Eric: "I think we can rest easy today" said John as he looked up at the sky. Barely 10 seconds later the rain came. And that's how our 24km walk to Palas de Rei started.

The World War Z audio book I had on my phone  helped relieve the monotony of the walk. Not a bad adaptation that remains true to the book. Shame I finished it this early in the walk.

Trash of the Camino

 

We got to Palas de Rei mid afternoon and found Collie already checked in. Quick shower and we were off to explore the town before dinner.

Random dude's house

 

 Marathon in Palas de Rei

John: This was our longest day … 26.1 kilometres … with a hard climb to start and several to follow and was a big ask. And while it didn’t rain so much the wind was very cold. By the end of the day Pete, Eric and I had done 49 kilometres in two days so we were completely shattered when we finally got to Palas De Rei. Stopped for several coffees and/or snacks along the way and to rest. The walk is verminous with pilgrims even this late in the season and there are full houses and queues at some stopping points.

The hotel was fine and very well organised … they have managing caministas down to a fine art … not a lot of English but enough to tell you what to do and when to do it … a bit of a teutonic flavour I thought but very friendly at the same time.

From a marketing perspective it seems important to be the first coffee stop on the stage … say about an hour in or after a longish stretch so that you’re the first thing the famished walker sees as he/she emerges from his/her work of pain. It funny that there can be a couple of coffee shops side by side and the first one has the lion’s share of the custom.

27 September - Sarria to Portomarin

Col: I have once been more buggered than I was at the end of the first days walking on the Camino. Our problem locating the place to stamp our Camino passports saw us climb far too many steps and we had about an extra 3 klms of walking to add to the 22 that we were due to do officially. Consequently the body was screaming for mercy by the time we arrived in Portomarin. Putting about 4 litres of water in my backpack probably didn’t help either. And talk about déjà vu – first day of walking was pouring rain and up a hill out of Sarria- very reminiscent of England along with the lovely smell of cowshit and chicken shit. Almost reminiscent of the terror tunnel of turds. All of this coupled with my flu/ nausea made it a tough day. Resurrected the old backwards down the hill patented walking style to great affect on the very steep descent into Portomarin. Had salad and lamb cutlets for dinner and then off to bed in recognition of much needed rest.

Eric: The first day of the walk was also one of the longest with 22km's of rural Spain between us and Portomarin. Stepping out of our hotel, the heavens opened up and rain started pouring. Great.

 

 

Trudging through the countryside, the views were breathtaking. But more memorably the dung was plentiful.

A wild mudkipz appeared! 

 

The rain didn't help as we trudged through streets glistening brown with diluted dung. I swear my backpack ended up infused with its robust bouquet with subtle notes of hay. Still, we should count our blessings as only three senses were subjected to this experience and not more.

Portomarin was a welcome sight. Tired and weary, we crossed the bridge over the Rio Miño into town. We were finally here!

 

John: As Colly says the rain didn’t let up all day and there was cause yet again to ask “who’s bloody idea was this ?” similar sentiments were expressed on our second day in England standing in a pine forest in a howling gale. It wasn’t a howling gale but it was heavy at times and a bit like the Magic Pudding … you’d have your fill … it’d let up for a bit … and then it’d start all over again. For all the rain there was little water in the reservoir when we crossed the bridge and you could see the remains of bridges past. And just for Colly there was another good set of stairs to finish (him) off. Hotel was nice and the food good and we had an electrical storm in the evening for a bit of entertainment. For the most part our entertainment at the moment seems to be sleeping – we were seriously tired at the end of this day.

26 September Leon and Sarria – More Choo Choo

Col: Checkout time is very civilised in Spain (Noon).Train leaving Leon at 2.20PM for Sarria so we spent the morning looking around parts of Sarria we hadn’t seen and our first chocolate con churros (which was very filling but scrumptious). Did some supermarket shopping (sunscreen and water) to prepare for tomorrows adventures. Before departing Leon ducked over the road and had a final meal (lunch) at the little pub there. JR, Pete and I had roast potatoes and bacon and croquettes (which are deep fried mashed potato mixed with some form of yummy cheese which were eagerly devoured. The risk manager was getting very flustered about this time as we weren’t at the station yet so off we toddled. The train journey took us up into the hills/ mountains of northern Spain and it was certainly a spectacular view along the way. I still had some time to read my excellent book – River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay – and unfortunately I have now finished it so it is on to the Kindle now. After arriving in Sarria we did our usual walk into town and found a comfortable drinking hole and had a couple of very fine beers and then wandered back to our very new and pleasant hotel for our three course included meal after a very funny evening and a couple of bottles of white wine before hitting the sack.

Eric: Sarria. Distinctly different to the university town that is León. Here the smell of manure and sight of chickens foraging welcomed us, as if to foreshadow the coming days.

John: Having got the guys to the station on time the train was, of course, late ! Fortunately this didn’t translate into missing our connection at Sarria because the risk manager probably wouldn’t have coped very well having become somewhat over excited when told over breakfast by some passing Americans that the only way to Sarria by train was at 02:00 and that Sarria was after Lugo on the line and they had been told this by the passport office so our tickets to Lugo wouldn’t work. Now this is quite wrong – Lugo is after Sarria on the line and trains stop there on a regular basis but there are few trains TO Sarria. Anyway it was all good in the end and we got to Sarria – along with about 20 other pilgrims. The risk manager needed a few drinks to calm down when we finally got there – and even that didn’t go well when he ordered vino blanco and got vino tinto – more headaches – however Col manfully stepped in to fix the problem and managed to pay for the risk manager’s shout . We have now decided to stick to English - Spanish only seems to get us into trouble. And a polite “Habla Ingles” plus looking lost and hopeless seems to work well with the fairer sex – well with Pharmacists anyway.  

 

25 September

Col:

Had a more frugal repast this morning but still set us up well for the day. Walked across the bridge and up the central access road to the centre of town. Much busier than our first foray yesterday arvo as it was not Siesta time. Pete and JR did mass whilst Eric and I sat in the main town square and had a couple of coffees whilst we waited for the boys.

We then meandered down one of the myriad laneways that abound on our way to the Camino passport office where we paid our 2 Euros each and are now official Camino walkers.

We then had a disappointing lunch (Eric will expand) before it was siesta time again. After siesta we headed into town looking for a particular jamon restaurant we had seen previously but it was still closed at about 7pm so the other three lads went off to Maccas for dinner. I passed on Maccas and wandered back to the hotel via the river which was most pleasant. Boys arrived home and we went across the road to the pub and had a nightcap (gin and Tonic for me).

Catch train to Sarria tomorrow. Only two days till the walk now .

Eric:

Lunch today was disappointing; a first for this trip. Undercooked, grainy paella with tiny prawns and bits of chicken. Don’t trust the picture.

 

Later, instead of settling in for a siesta, John and I decided to check out León's Museum of Contemporary Art. For someone not nearly enlightened enough to appreciate art from this time period, it was at least refreshing to see some pieces that didn't look like they were made by a pretentious 8 year old. 

 

After the disappointment that was lunch, we decided to get something that we at least knew would be better than the paella.

 

John: Little to add again – obviously he who blogs first blogs the mostest.  The cathedral is magnificent if suffering from the elements. The museum had a lot of performance art which leaves met totally cold and an installation commenting on the destruction of rivers which could have been sponsored by Bunnings - massive piles of river rocks and metal swarf artfully arranged – impressive from a size perspective but can’t see it as art. 

Peter: At Leon I spotted the first of many Camino Pilgrims. So far there seems to be two dominant cohorts – fit sinewy Octogenarians  with leg calves like Pop Eye the Sailor usually  with a  North America accent  and  exuberant Youth from all corners of Europe. Both Cohorts can be readily identified by the sewn on Shell – the Symbol of the Camino but more prominently by considerable sunburn coupled with a pronounced limp in one or both of their legs. If at the conclusion of the days walk they were mostly in Sandals to air the blisters or alternately their feet were held together with generous bindings of surgical tape   Its tough on the Camino and our turn is to arrive soon.

The dominant feature of the Leon Skyline is the Santa Maria Cathedral. This Cathedral is replete with an Organ which at the time of testing sounded more like a scolded cat but given that we were there in the “Festival of the Organ” it obliviously attracted large audiences to its concerts.

My hat goes off to the Catholic ICT department that installed stand alone credit card machines for restoration donations at the Cathedral. Will this replace handing around the plate !?



24 September - Choo Choo the Wide Brown Land (Another One)

Col:

Up at 7.30 for the included breakfast which turned out to be very enjoyable. One had to choose between multiple styles of bread, cereal, scrambled eggs, bacon, little sausages (about half the size of a cocktail frankfurt),  yoghurt, coffee, chorizos, ham, chicken meat, a couple of different cheeses, juice. All in all plenty of choice for everyone. Just as well we’ll be walking soon.

Caught a taxi to Madrid station where we connected with our train to Leon. A good way to see a lot of the countryside. The parts of Spain we saw reminded us a lot of the wide brown land, with fields of hay and sunflower and we passed through a number of towns and cities.

Leon is very pretty and still has lots of the old historical buildings (see photos). Spent the afternoon wandering and sampling some of the local food. The lads then decided they would see what this siesta thing was all about and all of us ended falling deeply asleep for about 4 hours and we only made our way into the city for dinner at about 9PM. Had a late dinner of salad and zarzuela which was magnificent. and arrived home about midnight everyone thinking no way would we sleep but we needn’t have worried everyone drifted off and slept soundly (or at least Pete and I did J).

So tomorrow we have a full day in Leon.

Eric:

Woke up a wee bit seedy this morning. It must be the jetlag. Nothing to do with drinks the night before. And definitely nothing to do with the pint o' guinness nightcap we had.

Hotel breakfast, bags packed and by 08:00 we were in our way to the train station to catch our train to León.

Three hours, countless fields of corn and sunflowers later we were in León, with its historical buildings, anatomically correct lion statues and of course more pulpo and jamon.

 

 

 

23 September - Three Take-offs and Three Landings - 18,000 klms in 28 hours

Eric: After traveling 18,000kms over the last 28 hours, I think we were over flying for a while.

It was surreal. We were finally here; a totally different continent, a new country with new experiences to be had. Which makes it a bit ironic that the brown dirt and sparse plants of the Madrid
countryside reminded us of Australia.

We didn't sleep much on the flight, and Collie in  particular really needed a snooze. A few hassles with airport transfers and we finally get dropped off at our hotel right in the middle of Gran Vía - the place that never sleeps.

John and I were keen to do a bit of exploring. So while Collie slept, we took a walk. The sights were spectacular and the place was bustling with activity. We checked out the architecture, made
our way through the side streets with their cerveceria and paneria before plonking ourselves down at the outdoor restaurante just outside our hotel.

The beer was a good introduction to Spain, made even better by the out of this world olives that came with our order. We were only here for drinks but soon enough we were flipping through the food menu ( 'carta', as corrected by the lady taking our order ). I can think of many things worse than sitting under the shade trees watching people go about their business, enjoying some vino with our grilled octopus and garlic mushrooms. Good thing John managed to get Collie to join us before they were all gone.

 

With Collie a bit more refreshed, we went to check out the sights he missed before (the pictures will do these better justice than I ever will). It was close to 9pm when we got back and Collie
called it a night soon after.

John and I ended up with vino, flipping through the same carta at the same restaurante from this afternoon. Grilled prawns and jamon (ham) iberico (plus more olives!). And that's when Peter
arrived..

Col: Melbourne to Dubai was uneventful (cramped as it always is in economy) and long. A380 was an impressive aircraft. A shortstop in Dubai and then onto a 777 to Madrid. From Dubai we flew across
Saudi to the Suez canal and then over Cairo and Alexandria past Cyprus over Ibiza and then across Spain to Madrid. An interesting development was the catching of a train to collect our luggage at
the airport and also the total lack of interest in our arrival from the Immigration more interested in his animated discussion about other events with his colleague. Consequently the trip through
immigration was very swift indeed.
 
As usual I had trouble sleeping in transit and 30 hours on the go was tough. Consequently my first thoughts on arrival in Madrid were to hit the sack. So put my head down for a short snooze and was
only roused when JR knocked some hours later. Went and joined JR and Eric at the taverna downstairs and had a wine and some of the tapas the boys had ordered. We went for a stroll through downtown Madrid for an hour or two whilst waiting for Pete to arrive. Looked for some possible eating places and had a beer at a little pub across the road and then I called it quits. I woke briefly when Pete (roomie) arrived to disturb my peaceful slumber opened the door for him and went back to sleep.

Peter: Does any of our readers know what happens in the last five minutes of Jdango. Ever had that experience when you have almost finished a movie and you start the descent. 5 PA messages in
different languages stopped the movie and then for some unknown reason the Entertainment System rebooted. Not to be deterred and with great dexterity I reentered into the movie - did you know you
cant fast forward during the starting commercials - who gives a damn about the Genesis Car, Chivas Regal and like. Great I'm now in I fast forward. I overshoot the end of the movie. I have to
reenter the movie. COMMERCIALS AGAIN. Oh well I say I watch it on the next sector. New plane. Is it on the menu - NOOOOOOOOOO !
Flying via KL and Dubai gives you a great juxaposition of the lush green plantations of Malaysia and the sandy harsh deserts of Dubai. It also adds to my definition of whats long and hard, The
flight was mostly uneventful however, had a moment of excitement when i opened a metal lidded container of yogurt - its like the orange juice you used to get on Australian flights - it exploded
over me and across 10B 10C 11A-C !!!!.

John: Well as it turned out we were seated in various parts of the aircraft so any concerns about Eric's dietary habits were unfounded. Mind you all this travel seems to have massively upset my
digestive system so had we been together I think I would have challenged Eric for the medal. As Eric says it was magic in the square and the waiter and patron coped well with our attempts to speak
spanish- the word beer and associated gestures seem to be universal - el menu on the other hand is not acceptable for menu - but we have worked out how to ask for the bill - so all is  well. Felt
like channelling Al - we had a french cycling team on the 777 - and the gent next to me was quite uncommunicative when he wasn't asleep and not at all pleasd with me disturbing him to go to the
loo - we need Al along to add that special degree of intensity to all matters french.

Early Morning Monday 23 September 2013 - "Well Hello Pilgrims"

Peter here: I write to you at 12:30 am from the Emirates Lounge at Melbourne Airport Its been almost 3 hours since we group hugged and I waved goodbye to John, Col and Eric from Melbourne Airport. I hear you say my dear readers what ever possesses a person to catch a plane that leaves at 2:40am in the morning. For those of you that have used Qantas Frequent Flyer points this should not come as a great surprise ! For 128,000 points you too can fly at this ungodly hour, take a more circuitous route than a ACTION Bus Route , play snakes and ladders with QANTAS beaurocracy and bathe in the success of having been able to use the frequent flyer points for the first time but I digress ... I have taken upon myself dear readers to be the religious editor for the Camino. This I know is an enormous burden for me to carry but as the only Catholic in the group I believe that this is my cross to bear (so to speak). I hope during my discourse to you to give you insight into the religious nature of the Camino and to explain some of mysteries and mystic of a pilgrimage. As an ex-student of St Stanislaus College I feel uniquely placed to unravel the relationship between the individual, God and Holy Mother the Church. Enough on this topic for the moment my dear readers. Time I believe to gurd my loins for the flight ahead. Given the topic of beans and chillis it is perhaps better that I am in a different plane - you can't fly with the window open can you :-)

Col: Boys are safely in Melbourne having done the Cook's tour of Airline lounges. We are safely ensconced and sampling some beverages after a light antipasto repast.

Easy flight from Canberra.

Straight through to Customs - no line so straight through.

Eric: As someone who regrets things not done more than contrary, this trip with the guys is a once in a lifetime opportunity not to be passed. Having said that, today brought with it two minor regrets:

- Having chilli con carne for lunch right today; and
- Gardening in the morning, playing with Dynamic Lifter and then getting 'randomly' swabbed for explosives at the airport.

Things turned out ok. Not 100% sure about the chilli yet, but I have a feeling that that too will pass.

John: Well clearly arranging for the boys to sit together was not a strategic move given Eric's taste for red hot chilli and lots of beans - despite the size of the A380 there's no escape on a plane.

Today was supposed to be quiet but I ended up rushing around getting things I forgot - I'm now in a new pair of Skins the old ones having unaccountably shrunk since I wore them to England in 2010. I am however reliably informed that in the older man if you try to reduce the beer gut by getting fit the  circumference remains static the centre of gravity simply moves backwards. Anyway I'm trying to further this particular scientific experiment by knocking back a few champagne - help the little fat cells on their migration.